the first part of an extremely long con report for Sacramento 40th ￼￼￼Anniversary Creation Convention

from the editors:

This month we have not one but two Whole Zine Reviews! Thanks so much to Lemli for turning her appreciative eye on T'hy'la 26 and to Ivy for highlighting the great stories in Antinomy and Other Classic Trek Stories. This latter zine is not K/S, but the collection of tales by Suzan Lovett certainly does emphasize the relationship, the devotion and the love, and occasionally also deals with the concept of K/S in unconventional ways.

a reader writes:

KSP is a treasure that keeps renewing these thoughts in me each time I receive my issue and let myself get caught up in all the fun, reviews, con reports and even the news about upcoming cons, related happenings and especially new-born zines and song tapes, or CDs as they are now called. KSP has never forgotten us, the ones who cannot sometimes do more than read it and revel in it. KSP is inclusive, compassionate and truly understanding as its members forge ahead, doing great things, offering us zines full of fresh, innovative stories and ideas, keeping our dream on track. KSP and it's creators are treasures I unwrap in times of joy and in times of sadness. It is a class act and I wanted to say that again because I needed to say it.

a fan takes a nostalgic trip:

Last month, desperate for KS, I plunged my hand one night into the bookcase that holds all my KS zines. Somehow I pulled out FT 6. It got me through the night and took me down memory lane on a nostalgic trip. The stories were typed, the print very light, there were a few typos that had been corrected by pen. It was so enjoyable! It brought me back to those years when I worked like that, cutting and pasting and scotch-taping all the pieces together and then running off to the printers to meet a deadline for a story submission. Those were the days! And reading it made me so happy to have this glorified typewriter that is my old computer.

a thank you to a fan:

I would like to acknowledge the wonderful gift the library has received—two large cartons of zines from [Jane E] Thank you, Jane! Your generosity is just astounding and so very greatly appreciated.

there is a thank you for the two K/S librarians: Carolyn S in the US and Kath B in Scotland

this issue has the second part of an extremely long con report for Sacramento 40th ￼￼￼Anniversary Creation Convention

a fan writes:

The very first con I attended with my friend Lynn back 1982, (The Ultimate Disaster for those of you who remember), I remember one of best things about the con was the ability to talk the same language with other fans and not be patted on the head about this obsession. Each month that I read the K/S Press, for a short while, I experience that sense of fun and laughter, sharing with all of you who understand and enjoy the same language of K/S.

I’ve loved all the LOCs and Tricorder readings and Roundtables in the last few issues of KSP. It’s wonderful hearing what you all have to say and learning your likes and dislikes. [Carolyn S's] reviews of some of her favorite music vids made me want to spend a day doing nothing but watching vids! They truly speak K/S in a way that hardly anything else does. Thanks for the kind words about the stills in Karen’s vid “In This Room”. I had a little something to do with those.

KSP is inclusive, compassionate and truly understanding as its members forge ahead, doing great things, offering us zines full of fresh, innovative stories and ideas, keeping our dream on track. KSP and it's creators are treasures I unwrap in times of joy and in times of sadness. It is a class act and I wanted to say that again because I needed to say it.

a fan says:

Last month, desperate for KS, I plunged my hand one night into the bookcase that holds all my KS zines. Somehow I pulled out First Time|FT 6. It got me through the night and took me down memory lane on a nostalgic trip. The stories were typed, the print very light, there were a few typos that had been corrected by pen. It was so enjoyable! It brought me back to those years when I worked like that, cutting and pasting and scotch-taping all the pieces together and then running off to the printers to meet a deadline for a story submission. Those were the days! And reading it made me so happy to have this glorified typewriter that is my old computer.

this issue includes screenshots from the show with commentary

an announcement/ad for KiS-Met "No K/S CONnections in 2007! No Closet until 2008, then why not come to KiS-Met?" in the UK

a very detailed description of some K/S moments in the episode “The City on the Edge of Forever”, complete with screen shots

“No K/S CONnections in 2007! No Closet until 2008! Then why not come to KiS-Met?" (a con in the UK, August 17-19, 2007)

All 5 of Mary Van Deusen's ST songvids are now available on DVD. (#1 is her TOS Slash songvids, primarily K/S, #2 is Gen with 2 K/S songvids, #3 is Gen with 2 K/S songvids, #4 is Gen with 2 K/S songvids, #5 is Gen with 3 K/S songvids)

I wasn’t one of those “pioneering women”, but at the time there was no internet, so it felt like pioneer days! I vividly remember going to Star Trek conventions here in Los Angeles and finding those women with those zines; endlessly circling the dealers room, too shy to actually stop at the table and actually stand there and actually look at those zines; driving to San Diego to Robin Hood’s get-togethers to genuflect before the K/S art-filled walls of her bedroom; joining a group of wild K/Sers at Shore Leave and displaying my art; seeing the movie of the story in my mind as I wrote K/S; meeting and knowing all the other K/S people from all over the world; hearing the moment on the phone when Jenna and I decided to start publishing a K/S newsletter.

another fan writes:

One of the things I celebrate is the ability in this day and age to find like-minded people to share my obsessions with. It is amazing that folks with this kind of secret to hide were able to find each other back in the seventies, when the atmosphere surrounding same sex relationships was far, far different from what it is now. Truly, saying that Kirk and Spock love each other was something that needed to be whispered. I always think of the pioneering women (and they were 99% women back then, though these days fandom is at least slightly more of a mix) who had the courage to reach out to each other and to start the first conversations, write the first letters, gather in the first conventions to celebrate an unconventional but lasting love. Which is a perfect lead-in for me to mention the Legacy zine project that several of us have been working on for quite a while. Legacy will be published by Beyond Dreams Press in a few months (I’m not committing to exactly when!). The zine will be several volumes, three or four or five, it’s still a little hard to tell, but we’ll bring them all out at the same time. There is plenty of dynamite K/S fiction, all of it brand new that you have not read before; there will be fascinating non-fiction articles on the growth of K/S through zines, art, conventions, letterzines, and the internet; interviews with some of the people who were there at the Time of the Beginning; an up to date database of zine stories; sizzling art.... This is a zine that is a once in a lifetime event that celebrates thirty years of K/S...plus a few months. So, look for our ads in a few months and in the meantime make room on your bookcase shelf for Legacy.

The K/S Press 127 (April 2007)

KS is not just a hobby for me; it never has been. I think I've said in these pages how it's helped me through other crises in my life: it's changed me over the years, matured me and made me, hopefully, wiser.

What'd I do for KS day? I took down the 3 big scrapbooks I'd gotten from Pat Stall long ago. Looked over the fascinating photos of ST, KS, those frozen moments in time, the joyfulness of that other world. And I was uplifted and humbly grateful to artists like Pat and Southern Cross, all those at the beginning and throughout the 40 years, including you, Shelley, and our other artists. The photos were just stills, some on the sets of ST taken between scenes, Spock laughing out loud provoked by Kirk's teasing. Of course I mean Billand Leonard, who were devils at that time. Anyway, the memories made me smile and stimulated my memories of stories which were, back then, the pillars of the newborn KS fandom. It was a sweet, poignant trip for me and I was satisfied, peaceful and happy when I shut the last scrapbook cover. After that I had a cup of hot cocoa—it was freezing here!—and toasted the big poster of Admiral Kirk and Captain Spock from ST: TMP hanging on my wall. Kirk gazing unafraid into the future, clearly the absolute Captain and Spock standing close by his side, touching him, looking directly out at the viewer as if to say, "This is my place. I am here and will be here forever. He is mine." Yow! It gave me chills. The love of these two friends just emanates from this creation.

a fan comments not only on filming style, but on format:

I watched one episode and laughed and marveled over how blazingly beautiful Kirk looked in those giant closeups. We were so privileged to have in that show a steady camera. One that often followed Kirk's curvaceous hips, ass and sometimes crotch (oh damn preserve me!) around corners. Long scenes too, no nano-second glimpses of the stars like on some of the new shows. We can linger on them, play them back in slo-mo and freeze them, which I did in a warm, romantic haze. This is the reason I'm not buying the new DVD copies of the show. I like my older tapes. I don't want to see every blemish, line or stubble on our heroes' faces. In the original VHS tapes our men are still young, golden and green, the vibrant Captain and his devoted, gorgeous companion.

Some of our best artists contributed to this zine:[Maureen B], Marilyn Cole, Vel Jaeger and Suzan Lovett. I love and revere them. I also agree about Gayle's work being an acquired taste; I acquired it a long time ago, hers was one of the first illos I'd cut out—a small one from a letter she'd sent me—and carried in my wallet, just so I could look at it when I was out somewhere doing deadening ordinary things. Yes, like you, I adore the blending of her ideal visions or my heroes: young, perfectly proportioned, just what I want in my KS fantasies!

To those of you reading this who are not writers or artists or makers of K/S music vids: please remember how vitally important it is for those of us who have struggled to bring a creation to life to hear from you. We need to know how it affected you, how it made you feel. It isn’t always easy bringing these babies into the world and nothing makes the labor worthwhile more than a few kind words. Criticism is OK, too, as long as it helps us learn how to do it better next time. Sending any sort of new K/S out into a vacuum is very discouraging. So write those LOCs, just a few lines will do, and we’ll keep churning out something new!

a fan wonders:

What is most important in the K/S relationship? Is it the sexual intimacy, or is it the overflowing of love that bubbles to life in all the sweet touches and understanding words and silent communion? I’m not sure I can answer this even for myself because what I like to read is often dictated by my mood. However, if given the choice of reading only sexual encounters for the rest of my life or reading only tenderness I would have to choose the latter. My imagination is pretty good at filling in the blanks. Like in those early days when my reading material only hinted at K/S, eventually I would probably crave being able to glory in the consummation of their love. Without the affection and adoration, though, I believe I would actually tire of K/S after awhile. Fortunately, this is not a decision any of us must make because most of the stories in our K/S universe are a skillful blend of all these ingredients.

a fan writes:

We’ll be bringing out Legacy to premiere in July at Shore Leave, unless the sky falls on us to prevent that. Originally, I had announced it would come out in November 2006, but I had a fallback date of March 2007 in mind because I knew November was tremendously ambitious. My reach constantly exceeds my grasp. And of course March was too ambitious, too, for a number of reasons that include Real Life rearing its ugly head. I do most sincerely apologize for the delay not only to readers who might be wanting to read it but to the contributors who made every effort to meet my deadlines, which were way too ambitious. We’re going to have some tremendous fiction in the four volumes (probably four) of the zine, all of which will be published at once. Volumes one through four of Legacy. The stories range from just a few pages to one that could almost be published as a stand-alone novel, but most of them are substantial short stories. Lots of meat on these bones! And of course Legacy itself is intended to be a tribute to the long, thirty-year history of K/S, so it is going to be packed with interviews of some of the most interesting people! You’ll get to read the words of lots of people who were in K/S way back when, who can tell us what it was like. Included among those interviewed are Syn Ferguson, Leslie Fish, Carol Frisbie, Cynthia Drake, [Gayle F] and many more. Our non-fiction articles will range across the history of zines, of K/S art (with many small-sized examples provided by the diligent art team), of conventions, of letterzines (you will be fascinated to read the actual letters from letterzines where the controversy over K/S raged), and the internet. Each volume of Legacy will present a mix of fiction, non-fiction, and interviews, which gathered together should give you a great overview of our past, our present, and hopefully our future. If plans proceed as it looks like they will, we’ll also be including with each zine a CD with an updated database for all K/S zines and stories ever published, a true labor of love by Linda W.

My daughter is a professor at a university in a large city. Many of the faculty there recently chatted to her, quite incidentally, about KS, how it's being taught as a serious course related to gay issues in our society. (Of course you all knew that.) My daughter, also quite incidentally, mentioned that her mother had been and still is part of K/S fandom. No names or pen names were ever divulged, as she has been lectured on that since she was a teenager. Anyway, the other faculty members, of whatever persuasion, were noticeably interested. They all knew about KS and other slash fandoms and many of them loved it. Some of them had read the zine stories, probably on-line, I'm not sure. I'm only telling you because it pertains to my strong feelings that all of us, K/S fans the world over, have and still are contributing to the spreading of, if not complete acceptance, then knowledge and understanding of gay issues in our society. Our fandom *does* include members the world over, right? So, not to be too grandiose, I still needed to express my delight in the evidence that we are, indeed, influencing our culture in an important way. This is what I believe: that we're preaching and practicing what we preach through our artistic creations. At times we're preaching to the choir, I'm aware of that. But it's still spreading love, tolerance, pride and most of all positive thoughts, which are the most powerful tools we have to help change the world for the better. Ok, I guess it *is* a grandiose opinion but it's how I've always thought of ST and K/S. I am a dreamer, like all of you. I dream of a better world, one where, as Gene Roddenberry believed, we have learned to accept each other for what we are, not how we look or who we love. We've been putting our dreams on paper for 30 plus years and now we can see a future where they might come true. Of course I don't mean tomorrow but because of all our efforts, dreams, intuitions and imaginations, that tomorrow seems to be coming closer and closer.

...[this] is something personal that has been bothering me. I really regret not having written the story for Legacy that I had planned to write. I had chosen a Gary Mitchell story and I had the idea, the outline and the desire to write it, and then the time got away from me. I am genuinely sad about this. I had so wanted to have a story in Legacy, to be a part of it not just with artwork, but with the written K/S that I love doing. I just wanted to release that feeling because now this extraordinary project is out there and my story isn’t. I do hope, however, that you will buy Legacy as a tribute to our extraordinary fandom.